Derry Lane
by Willow08
Summary: Jack takes the team "Up North" to the seaside but all isn't what it seems.
1. Chapter 1

"The winner is the first person to see the sea!" Jack cried, as the SUV drove past a sign which claimed the coast was only five miles away.

"We're adults Jack, not five year olds," Owen sneered from the backseat.

"So what do we win?" Tosh asked, ignoring Owen's comment and smiling cheerfully at the prospect of a contest.

"The knowledge that you are the most observant person in the team," Ianto replied. He looked across at Jack, who laughed.

"And a free portion of fish and chips," Jack added.

"I don't know why we had to come all this way anyway?" Owen grumbled. "What's wrong with the beaches in Wales?"

"Nothing," Jack replied. "Except that I thought a day trip to Bridlington would be fun... and there's been a report of strange energy spikes in the area."

"So we're working then?" asked Gwen.

Jack didn't answer.

"We are. We're bloody working. On MY day off!" Owen cried.

"There's just a few spikes Owen. It's probably nothing."

"Know-it-all" Owen hissed, leaning back and deliberately pressed his feet into Ianto's seat.

"Now who's the five year old?!" Jack laughed. "Come on Owen, it will be fun! Besides, Torchwood pays overtime."

…

"Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! Oh I do like to be beside the sea…" Jack sang at the top of his voice as he swung the SUV unceremoniously into a parking space in the sea front carpark.

"Oh I do like to stroll along the prom prom prom where the brass band plays-"

"Jack! Shut the HELL up!"

…

"So where were these energy spikes Toshiko?" Jack looked down at the hand-held device Tosh was inspecting.

"About five minutes to the east. A little road called Derry Lane."

"Right, Derry Lane it is. Then Jack, please can we just relax and have a good time?" Gwen asked.

"An hour's work and then I promise we can have fish and chips. OK," he said, seeing the glare Owen gave him, "twenty minutes."

…

Derry Lane looked like a scene from a horror film. Five bodies lay strewn across the tarmac, blood curdled around them. Five bodies - five lives lost in battle - but one of them wasn't human.

"What's wrong with this scene everyone?" Jack asked, though he knew the answer.

"No police," Gwen replied.

"No people," Owen added.

"No onlookers," Ianto chipped in.

"Yes and that body has no head. Where's the head?"


	2. Chapter 2

In number 23 Derry Lane, little Tommy sat quietly on the window seat of his front room watching the men and women gathered outside. They couldn't see him because of his Nan's ancient net curtains, but Tommy was still wary of being caught. He knew he shouldn't have taken that head, but it was just lying there and surely nobody would miss it. Tommy planned to take the head to school and scare the bullies who'd been tormenting him for years. _That'll teach them,_ he thought.

Outside, Owen was bent over the dead creature.

"Well it's definitely not from Earth," he concluded, rather stating the obvious Ianto thought, but he bit his tongue and didn't say anything.

"Do you think its head's been took as a trophy Jack? By the person or creature that did this?" Toshiko looked at the mangled body and grimaced slightly. She'd seen plenty of dead aliens but this one was particularly gruesome. It was hard to tell exactly where its head should have been amongst the gory remains and bright blue blood. It had clearly been killed by something much bigger than itself.

"Possibly," Jack replied, considering a number of scenarios. He wandered over to one of the human bodies which was equally as mangled. Even if they were near the Hub, Jack wouldn't have needed Owen to autopsy these cases. It was clear the victims had been eaten alive. The question was, by what? Or by whom?

"Ever get the feeling your being watched?" Ianto asked, looking over his shoulder directly at number 23. He saw the net curtain twitch and instinctively put his hand on his gun. "Gwen, shall we go and investigate?"

Seeing Ianto and Gwen coming directly towards him, Tommy ran into his Nan's kitchen, grabbed the head from the sink and wrapped it up in his coat. He was about to unlock the back door when there was a knock on the front. Fearing he'd be heard, Tommy slid into the pantry instead and shut the door. _Please go away_ , he thought, _please go away._

"Is anybody there?" Gwen shouted through the letter box. "Police! Let us in!"

"Shall we smash the door down?" Ianto asked, slightly excited by the prospect of being an all-action-hero in front of Jack.

"No Ianto, don't be so bloody dramatic. Look the door's open anyway."

Gwen let herself in and Ianto followed, drawing his gun.

"Hello?" Gwen called out. "Anybody here? It's OK, we're not going to hurt you. We just want to talk."

Tommy sat as still as could on the pantry floor. _They're going to hear me breathing_ , he thought. He tried holding his breath but his lungs screamed out for oxygen.

"You try upstairs," Gwen instructed. "I'll look down here." This is like being a copper again, she thought. Except this time, I'm chasing aliens.

Tommy heard Gwen enter the kitchen and held his breath again. His heart was pounding in his ears.

"Hello? Anybody here?"

Gwen saw the bright blue blood in the kitchen sink and instinctively drew her gun. If the killer was still here, she wasn't about to let it walk away. She saw the pantry door hadn't quite shut properly and reasoned it was worth a look. _Though how many killers hide in kitchens?_ the cynical voice in her head asked.

"I'm going to open this door now," she said, trying to keep her voice calm. "So if you're in there, it would be better if you came out."

Gwen put her hand on the door and Tommy closed his eyes. _Please don't hurt me. I didn't mean to steal it._

Gwen opened the door.

"Hello – who are you?" she asked, lowering her gun at the sight of the frightened boy.

"Tommy Miss," Tommy replied, opening his eyes a little and holding up his hands in surrender.

"I'm not going to hurt you Tommy," Gwen reassured him. "So you can put your hands down now."

Gwen noticed the carrier bag Tommy was clutching was leaking the same blue blood she'd seen in the sink.

"What's in your bag Tommy?" she asked.

"It's an alien," Tommy replied, absolutely certain that's what he was carrying. After all, his favourite TV show was Aliens Vs Wizards.

"Could I have a look at it Tommy?" Gwen asked, crouching down by the child.

"You can have it … Miss…" Tommy said, remembering to be polite like his Nan always taught him. "I was only going to scare Jamie with it."

"Who's Jamie?"

"He picks on me at school," Tommy replied, snuffling slightly as he remembered the last time Jamie had bullied him.

"Well if I can borrow this, I might be able to give it back to you later," Gwen lied.

"It's OK Miss. I don't need it anymore."

Tommy let go of the bag and the head rolled out onto the floor. At that moment, Ianto walked into the room, his gun drawn.

"So you've found the head then?" he remarked, lowering his weapon. "Doesn't look like a species we've seen before."

"No," Gwen replied, standing up. "Will you come with me Tommy and tell my team what happened?"

" _Your_ team?" Ianto queried. " _Jack's_ team."

Gwen glared at her colleague. "Was that really necessary Ianto?"

Ianto shrugged. "Jack's team," he repeated.

Outside, Owen and Tosh were running some basic checks on the surrounding area whilst Jack "supervised". They all looked surprised when Gwen and Ianto returned with a young boy in tow and a carrier bag covered in blue blood.

"We found the head," Ianto told Jack, holding the carrier bag aloft.

"And Tommy might know what happened," Gwen added.

"So kid, what do you know?" Jack asked the youngster.

Tommy hesitated, staring up at the man in the strange blue coat. _He's not human either,_ Tommy thought, with the uncanny knowledge young children possess.

Gwen squeezed the young boy's hand and whispered a few words of encouragement.

"Well I was playing on the street on my own and there was a loud bang and this lion appeared. It was HUGE!" Tommy spread out his arms to show the size of the beast. "Then all these people appeared and then an alien. That alien," Tommy said, pointing to the carrier bag, "and then these people were trying to stop the lion but it killed them. Right there," he said, indicating to the bodies strewn across the street. "and then it disappeared."

Jack considered this new information for a moment before asking "So where is everybody else Tommy?"

"Nobody lives here except me and my Nan," Tommy replied. "They're going to knock them all down but Nan won't let them," he said, referring to the terraced houses which lined the street.

"Where's your Nan now?" Gwen asked the young boy.

"Gone shopping Miss. She'll be back soon."

"Right, we'd better hurry up then!" Jack declared.

"So we've come all this way for a _lion_?" Owen grumbled. "We're not bleeding zoo keepers Jack!"

"Hang on a minute," Jack turned to Tommy again. "What colour was this lion Tommy?" he asked.

"Red, sir." Tommy replied. "Bright red."

"I thought so…"

"What is it?" Tosh asked, seeing the concern on Jack's face.

"It's an eighty-fourth century Circus lion I bet," Jack replied. "These people would have been its tamers. Those spikes I saw yesterday on the Rift monitor must have been a warning. I knew something wasn't right-"

"And what about that thing?" Owen pointed to the head Ianto was still carrying.

"A side show," Jack answered. "Probably rode on the lion's back or entertained the crowds. Essentially harmless."

"They still have circus animals in the _eighty-fourth_ century?" Tosh remarked.

"Yes, that's the human race for you," Jack replied. "Never happy with just leaving nature alone. The Rift must have dumped it here. You said it just disappeared Tommy? Are you sure?"

"Yes sir," Tommy replied. "It just disappeared, right there."

Tosh scanned the area with her hand-held device. Sure enough, it picked up an energy spike right where Tommy had indicated.

"So if it's not here anymore, is there any need for us to be here?" Owen asked. "Can't we just clean up and move on? There's nothing we can do. They're all dead."

"We had noticed Owen," Ianto retorted.

"Oh shut up Ianto. I don't know why you're here. It's not like we need you," Owen hissed. "You're just the tea boy."

"If you too stop squabbling for a minute," Jack interrupted, "then I can tell you what we're going to do next. Owen, you fetch the SUV and get the body bags. Tosh, we're going to need some Retcon. Gwen and Ianto, check the street, make sure there's nobody else we need to help forget this. Looking at the Rift spikes, these bodies must have been here three hours already, it's strange nobody else has noticed. I'll check the Rift monitors again. Last thing we need is for this thing to come back."

Everybody set about their jobs. After Owen came back with the SUV, Tosh took Tommy kindly back to his house and made him a drink of squash. Tommy sipped it down quickly, thirsty after all his adventures, and within minutes fell asleep. Tosh laid him on the sofa and, shutting the front door, left him for his Nan to find when she returned later. Hopefully, they'd all be none the wiser as to what had happened.

Owen brusquely shoved the bodies into the bags and loaded them into the back of the SUV. He hated this part of his job. Not because the people were dead but because they stunk. _Why did Jack always give him the nicest jobs? Why couldn't Ianto do this?_

"We'll dump them in the sea, further up the coast," Jack told Owen. "Tosh can make up a report of a shipwreck and people will just assume they've been eaten by fish or something…I hope." Jack wasn't convinced this story would work but he was pretty certain the Press would come up with a wackier solution. They always did.

"Lovely trip to the seaside you promised us Jack. Lovely trip to the seaside doesn't involve launching bodies off a cliff top."

"I'll buy you fish and chips after Owen. Then we can go in the Amusement Arcades if that will cheer you up."

"I don't want fish and chips Jack. I want to go home. It is my day off, remember."

"Are you too still arguing?" Gwen asked, as she returned to the SUV. "Nobody else in sight Jack. Looks like we're all clear. Since you're so cheerful Owen, you can help me clean up all this blood. There's a hosepipe in the back of the SUV and I'm sure we can attach it to a tap in Tommy's house."

Owen glared at Gwen but took the hosepipe out of the SUV anyway. He was always slightly disturbed by what Torchwood carried around in the vehicle. They could create or destroy a crime scene in minutes. "Experts in Illusion" Jack always called them. It made Owen wonder how many of the "crime" victims he'd dealt with as a doctor were actually the result of alien attacks.

"So, an eight-fourth century lion in Bridlington - that's a new one," commented Ianto. "Do you think the Rift is expanding?"

"Yes, unfortunately I do," Jack replied. "There's been some activity as far North as Glasgow but only time will tell what comes through."

"You know, I never really liked trips to the seaside as a kid. Always ate too much ice-cream and felt sick all the way home," Ianto smiled. "Still, a trip to the seaside with you isn't so bad. Even if it's not quite what you had planned."

Jack smiled. "Thanks Ianto. What would I do without you?"

"You'd be stuck with Owen, sir," Ianto replied, laughing.

"Me and Owen? No can't see that happening." Jack looked over at Owen, now blasting water dangerously close to Gwen, who squealed in horror. "Too much of a baby."

Ten minutes later, the team were re-united in the SUV. Just in time, as it happened. A little old lady appeared on the corner of the street – Tommy's Nan. She was carrying armfuls of shopping. Jack turned on the SUV's engine and drove away, leaving behind Derry Lane looking like any normal street in a seaside town. There was no sign of the devastation that had been there before.

Standing on the cliff top, looking out to sea, the team contemplated the events of the day. It was getting late and they were all hungry but nobody fancied fish and chips now.

"How about pizza?" Ianto suggested. "Or Chinese?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Let's go home," Jack said.

"Best suggestion you've had all day," Owen quipped.

Suddenly Tosh's hand-held device started screaming.

"Jack…"

"What is it now?"

"Energy spike. Derry Lane. It's a really big one."

The team raced back to the SUV and jumped in. All except Owen, who stood resolutely on the cliff top path. _I'm not coming_ , he thought stubbornly. _It's my friggin' DAY OFF! I'm NOT coming._


End file.
